2nd alligator found near Baldwin supermarket

A 3-foot alligator was found at a Baldwin supermarket parking lot Wednesday afternoon, police said, making it the second alligator captured there within 24 hours.

It was the third alligator found roaming free on Long Island in less than a week.

After a 2- to 3-foot-long alligator was discovered walking across the parking lot of a Pathmark store on Grand Avenue Tuesday evening, the Nassau County SPCA offered a $1,000 reward "for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons who released this dangerous reptile."

But no arrests were made and Wednesday afternoon a second alligator was found and captured in the same area.

The Nassau County SPCA asked that anyone with information call 516-843-7722.

The first Pathmark alligator was captured by Nassau County police after an alert shopper saw the reptile walking across the supermarket's parking lot, authorities said.

Officers responded at about 7:51 p.m. Tuesday to the lot at 1764 Grand Ave. They controlled the alligator and held it until the Nassau Emergency Services Unit arrived to capture it, police said.

Information concerning the discovery and capture of the second alligator, about 3:40 p.m. Wednesday, was not immediately available, but no one was reported injured by either reptile. An alligator was caught Friday in Mastic Beach, Suffolk police said.

It was still not known late Wednesday how any of the alligators got to those locations or who might be their owners, police said.

With Gary Dymski